Rumor has it Warren Beatty and Annette Bening’s biological daughter, born Kathlyn Beatty, has been living life as Stephen and wants a sex-change operation now that he’s 18. Stephen’s celebrity parents had allegedly pulled him from the Buckley School in Los Angeles to home school him out of the public eye, because who needs another reason for prying eyes to infiltrate the privacy of your celebrity bubble?
“Warren Beatty is beside himself over the situation,” a supposed “source” tells The National Enquirer. “He and Annette have tried to deal with this over the years when their daughter was younger, but she’s determined to go ahead with the transgender operation, just like Chastity [Chaz Bono].”
It makes sense that Stephen’s parents would want to protect him from the creepy paparazzi as a child, but now that Stephen’s 18 why hasn’t he gone ahead with the full transition? Have Beatty and Bening discouraged Stephen to go through it or are they keeping the young man hidden from view so he can experience the transformation on his own terms? Raising a trans child presents its own challenges. But maybe Stephen could team up with Chaz as a sort of trans celebrity big brother for support and advice. After all, Chaz would be a much better choice than the star of Killer Drag Queens on Dope Alexis Arquette.
ryanthehulk
I’m just going to assume they are doing it to try and protect their child until I hear different.
Fitz
“It makes since that Stephen’s parents would want to protect her from the creepy paparazzi, but maybe they need to take a crash course on trans children”
You might want to lay off telling parents that they need a crash course when at a queer blog you can’t even get the pronouns right.
scott ny'er
Wow. It’s really interesting to me that kids so young are set on having the operation. It speaks volumes and yet, I still am concerned for the kids because I do think the operation is a one-time deal.
Fitz
@scott ny’er: Well, really it is in phases.. but still, i agree with your point. I would love to hear from some of the “butch dyke” crowd, to see if they are feeling pressure.
Baxter
I think having a transgender child would be tough for even the best, most accepting parents at first. Cut them some slack and give them some time. It’s not like they’re throwing him out of the house or anything.
counterpoll
Shame on you Queerty! A tabloid rumor from the National Enquirer about a child, with NO evidence. This really is a new low on the morality/ethical charts. You jumped the shark of snark.
Dig up all the dirt you want on Celebs, but don’t drag the kids into it unless that child agrees — and is no longer a minor.
IF it is a true story, and When/If the parents wish to discuss the situation, then cover it with some sensitivity.
Do you realize that your site is complicating this young person’s rumored transition? Adding unnecessary complications of media attention is cruel.
Chaz Bono was an adult when she made her decisions public: this situation involves a much younger person who does NOT need personal info speculated about.
Until then, notify your legal team, your financial backers, your “advertisers”–your priests, pastors, rabbis, dealers and yoga instructors and your Moms/Dads— that you now operate in the murky blogdom world along side P_r_ z H_lt_n and practice similar “ethics” Except he’s got milliions of readers and you have at least 1000, although 1/3 of them are sockpuppers of J_s_n –or– An_r_wW!
Retaction is in order. Just delete the thread.
TommyOC
@scott ny’er: “I do think the operation is a one-time deal.”
I’ve never seen a medical textbook before, but I’m pretty sure you’re right.
counterpoll
It’s unethical to spread rumours about a child but not knowing BENING is Annette’s surname, well, that’s just sloppy.
Dick
I believe you meant to say “It makes sense” and not” It makes since “
jimstoic
I have a friend who is a very liberal lesbian who gave up a daughter for adoption as an infant. The child knew quite young that he was really a boy. He eventually made contact with his birth mother, when he was about 14. Even then he wanted surgery. It was difficult for his lesbian mother to accept that her girl wanted to have her breasts removed and to become a boy. It’s important to respect the trans person’s process, but the parents have a process as well, and we need to respect that, too, as long as it doesn’t harm the child.
Daniel
@counterpoll: Thanks for your input. After a little more digging we found that Stephen was born on January 8th 1992 and is thus 18-years-old and an adult. Also, plenty of other blogs have been reporting on this story since 2008 and now again because of the Enquirer story. So we could pretend the story doesn’t exist or duly report on it. As such, we focused our article on the parental decisions that come with having trans-children instead of on Stephen himself.
Hope that clears things up.
Michael
Considering neither mom, dad, or child have said anything whatsoever about any of this, it makes perfectly good sense for the writer of this blog to be dispensing advice. Naturally, I’m basing this on the rumor that the writer is a close, dear friend of the family.
counterpoll
@Daniel: Thanks for the clarification on age and prior press coverage. And for fixing the “Bening” situation! [Like you, I have a last name with a couple spelling options, so I’m sensitive to that.]
I respectfully disagree, however, with the newsworthiness of this article and its focus/tone.
So far, it’s based on rumors. I haven’t been able to find any comments made by the Beatty/Bening family or authorized representative. That would help make this “news” look less like it comes, well, from a tabloid. [if they’ve addressed it, bad on my research skills]
If the story is true/accurate, then the family might well decide one day to visit with Oprah or Ellen or Larry King [!] to tell their story. They may be able to educate the public in that forum. They may, instead, choose to request privacy for their son.
In the meanwhile, this an eighteen year old who is not, in his own right, much of a celebrity –well, YET. I wonder if the tabloid media attention on his transition makes an already complicated situation more difficult.
If you want to help educate us readers on the issues with raising trans-youth,
there are dozens of families who have shared their story elsewhere in print and online. Perhaps a less sensationalistic approach would be more effective.
Unfortunately, when someone is as talented as you, gaffes are more glaring than when made by untalented schlubs like me!
Paul
This post is really in poor taste. Let them have their privacy. I have no reason to believe they are doing anything but trying to be the best, most supportive parents they can be. Everything here is inuendo. Best to leave the family alone. Just because Stephen is 18 doesn’t mean he should rush out an get surgery, or that his parents should be obliged to pay for it. Changing one’s body s a very big decision and most of us are not fully formed adults on our 18th birthdays.. If the parents aren’t behind surgery it doesn’t make them transphobic. I am sure they are just looking out for their kid.
Michael
@Fitz: Hey next time you want to diss someone on their English skills make sure all your punctuation is right.
For example, I believe, it’d be “when, at a queer blog,”…
Michael
btw, and maybe it’s just me, but a lot of the FTM guys are hot!
Daniel
@counterpoll: @Paul: Often when deciding what to cover in any given day, I am faced with a multitude of topics which I know nothing about. The demands of blogging requires that I research, write, edit, and submit a story usually within the span of an hour. Those demands don’t excuse shoddy work nor should it grant me a license to publish first think later. But the process is often a learning experience and I depend on commenters to take us to task when we fail to consider the larger more personal questions.
I agree with you both that the tone could and should have been more humane and taken into account the challenges of actually parenting a trans-child rather than speculation about Stephen’s handling by his parents.
I am still on the fence about whether Queerty should have passed up this story, especially when other blogs have been writing about it since 2008. Plus, just because something is written about first in a tabloid doesn’t make it any less credible — consider John Edward’s affair broken first by The Enquirer. Because this story had a multiplicity of press sites behind it, it had for me the ring of truth and I didn’t think our commentary would negatively effect young Stephen. However I am still thinking it through and my opinion could change.
Thank you for your thoughts. I always read them and they do effect the way I do my work.
ousslander
maybe he hasn’t had the surgery because his folks think he should pay for it himself.
swarm
“but now that Stephen’s 18 why hasn’t he gone ahead with the full transition?”
What an ignorant comment/pov. Obviously coming from an individual who is not a parent. Most 18 year olds can’t even chose a hair style, obtain car insurance, manage their college affairs or live independently at all let alone THIS.
Meanwhile, how long did the author spend writing this? About 5 minutes? “Reporting”? LMAO at how cut and pasting other blogs info passes for “reporting” now.
counterpoll
@Daniel: Thanks for the thoughtful reply.
The pressure of deadlines is apt to cause anyone to cut some corners.
I was once asked to give a eulogy for a local ‘celeb’ and somehow mixed up the names of the dead man’s first wife and second wife. Fifteen years later, it’s almost funny, but I seriously had a hard time showing my face in public for a good year.
Yes, the Enquirer does sometimes get it right.
Still, when a story breaks in a tabloid in 2008, about someone who was at the time 16ish, it’s hard to imagine that three years later there’s a need to rush the story now because there’s apparently no “new news.”
A phone call to Bening’s publicist might have produced a statement that would be newsworthy. Even a “no comment” or a “did not reply” would have worked.
Anyway, you’re still a fine writer, and I’m still a fan. You keep writing, I’ll keep commenting. And the Beatty/Bening offspring will keep being cis-gender or transgender, as fate may have it.
DippyDoo
There’s no such thing as privacy. If her/his parents didn’t want him subjected to the limelight, they should have sent her/him off to be raised by grandparents or a foster family or not had the child in the first place. Both parents are actors, both know the scrutiny comes with the territory.
Too bad Kathlyn/Stephen wasn’t raised by Shirley Maclaine. She could have her/him accept that she/he has lived many lives as both genders and even no gender. I miss Shirley. She’s not in the news so much now that she’s old.
trickstertara
@Michael: It’s not just you.
If it’s true, best of luck to Stephen.
David Ehrenstein
Has there been any independent conformation of this story at all?
QUEERRN
The procedure is called an ADDADICKTOMEE
SmartVac
OMG!! Doesn’t Kathlyn look just like that student ousted from the Duke Repub campus group: Justin Robinette?
Could it be that Queerty put the stories in close proximity as a clue his former identity? Is Justin Robinette the former Kathlyn Beatty/Benning?
http://www.queerty.com/dukes-ousted-college-republicans-chief-still-being-targeted-with-fun-campus-graffiti-20100617/
Evan
The story’s fine except that I have to agree: it’s nobody’s place to be asking why Stephen hasn’t gone ahead with transition. First of all, you don’t know what he has or hasn’t done, and secondly, it’s a private medical matter being considered by someone who’s not a public figure.
Also, transition takes time and is expensive – both important considerations for someone still dependent on his possibly-not-entirely-supportive parents. It may be better to just take the time to get them on board with the decision rather than to try to set off and do this on his own, considering the amount of money involved and the need for a support system.
Jess
He’s so cuuuuute!
gina
@counterpoll:
Counterpoll, if you’re going to be so obsessive about fact checking, the least you could do is refer to Chaz Bono with male pronouns. And this is not a new story. Anyone who follows the trans community has known about Steven for several years. His parents have done an incredible job keeping his transition from becoming a media circus.
Anon
He is NOT planning on having the transition surgery anytime soon. The media pulled that out of their asses. He wants to wait until the ftm surgery is more developed and trustworthy.
The Future Mr. Arquette
Alexis Arquette is beautiful, talented, legendary. How dare you take a stab at her in in an attempt to offer false support to Beatty’s daughter, who at the tender age of 18 hasn’t done shit. Much like you and your non career, David Hauslaib. Except that you’re a middle aged looking woman, masquerading as a gay man, with a receding hairline.
August
Warren & Annette must have really screw their kids up!
riffraff
CAN YOU IMAGINE what Auntie Shirley thinks about all of this???
August
I would think Warren & Annette’s children would want to change their parents first before their sex; I can only imagine how horrifying it was to grow up with two narcissistic ego maniacs as parents, with everything being about them & the fools who worship them….